Glad you are making some good progress. Too bad you did not see the nut until too late. Oh, well - you won't do that again.
Right?

With front wheel drive cars, I think the back wheels are alignable, too. Find an honest shop that will charge you for just the fronts, since you did not take apart the rear. Many shops charge the higher price even to do just the fronts on a RWD car with fixed suspension. I run from those.
At the rising prices and hassles of alignments, I am happy to have bought that alignment jig so I can do my own. So far, Lady is driving straight as an arrow with no hands on the wheel! No weird tire wear, either.

 

Rob, I don't know if you can specify 2 or 4 wheel alignments. Up here they charge the same price (sic) no matter what. And yes, the FWD cars do have alignment on the rear wheels.

Mayhaps I should ship my 72 down to you for an alignment. Then I'll know it was done right. Oh, you can also drive it around if you want so long as you do the valve springs! That looks like fun actually. I may want to do that myself.

I'm glad you don't have weird tire wear. I hate buying weird tires. I prefer the brand names myself Not sure that my Kellys really need changing after 28 years. They still look like new and have no tread or sidewall cracking. Course they've been inside pretty much all their life and have virtually no miles on them.

 

There are some good shops here that charge lower for 2 wheel alignments - just have to call around and ask. Shouldn't have to - all should have the option. Why should i pay for work not being done? Sad...

If the postage rates and customs theater weren't so crazy i would ship my jig to you and you could send it back when you are done. I bet that would cost more than the jig though...
If you like cracked tires, buy michelins. After 2 years, all 4 on the caddy looked like a dried up lake bed in a Texas August. The tire shop shrugged. They are now 5 years old and the sidewall is flaking. No more of that brand for me. The 6 year old cheapos on the Pinto do not have a crack anywhere. They are turning egg-shaped though...
I bet no modern tires will last for 28 years like your Kellys. This brings me back to my "no more quality at any price" rant...

 

Thx for the offer on the jig but you're right about shipping. Yeah those Kellys' really surprised me - they still look and ride like new. Still have that blue stuff they put on the white letters but that's on the inside.

The Michelins I had on my blue 98 started cracking in the tread and sidewall after only 3 years too. Modern tires? You said a mouthful my friend. The ZIEX 912 17" low profiles I have on my Sonata (new 2 years ago) started separating after only 8K miles. Got them replaced under warranty but they pro rated the wear at 40% on 65K mile tires. Best offer I had to fix them anywhere so after 298.00 I have new tires on the front again. Wanna bet how long they'll last. I hear ya on the rant. Just wish it wasn't so common at times.

 

I probably will spring for the alignment soon once I inspect and replace anything needed on the other side . The tires on that car are about two years old at the most , and they were expensive so I don't want to mess them up .

 

The Buick drove great there and back ( vacation up north ) , and I didn't run out of gas once ! I really need to take care of that sending unit one day , but it seems like a real PITA to do ..... so someday .

 

Glad you had a great vacation Bryon. IIRC those Buicks have a plastic gas tank? I had a 78 Caddy d'elegance with a gas gage that didn't work. Ran out of gas one day 300 feet from my house - on the way to work. Had to run back and get the other car. Fix the gage!

 

seems like a pain to fix .... gotta remove the exhaust system it looks like , and drop the tank ...... etc....etc... not to mention the cost of the sending unit ( if that's the cause of the gas guage not working ) I'm going to do it soon , but for now I need to get the spark plugs done , and the original coil packs ( if that's what you call them ) and the faulty tranny mount that makes the engine jump. Then when I get some money i'll work on the tank . From what I understand the gas tank straps are also a PITA with a spinning nut and bolt routine . For now I just keep the tank full , because it seems it's running out before it even gets to empty ( if that makes any sense ) either that or someone is stealing my gas !

 

Yeah, I found the coil packs do tend to go bad. They're not too pricey. The replacement ones don't have the spark plug number printed onto it, so you might need to do that with a sharpie highlight marker just as reference.

Do you have a troubleshooting guide for that Buick? Might be something other than the sending unit. I can't remember if the Buick has the fuel pump in the tank along with the sending unit. Go for the easy stuff first.

 

My daughter decided to mess around with the back right window on the Buick while we were driving down the street , and the window won't go back up and it's raining . ( Pic 1 ) I took the panel off , and removed the window switch . ( Pic 2 ) It magically worked and went back up after I flipped it around a few times ( I think the contacts were just dirty ) I got lucky !